{"id":20250,"date":"2025-08-01T13:34:51","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T20:34:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/?p=20250"},"modified":"2025-08-01T13:56:47","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T20:56:47","slug":"august-is-national-shooting-sports-month-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/2025\/08\/01\/august-is-national-shooting-sports-month-3\/","title":{"rendered":"August is National Shooting Sports Month"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>NEWS RELEASE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aug. 1, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PHOENIX \u2014 The Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) is inviting all recreational shooters to celebrate National Shooting Sports Month in August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), formed in 1961 to promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports, created the first-ever nationwide celebration to encourage participation in the shooting sports genres and emphasize firearms safety.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cRecreational shooting is a safe, fun activity enjoyed by millions of Americans,\u201d said Mike Raum, the department\u2019s shooting sports branch chief. \u201cWhether you\u2019re new to recreational shooting, someone who shoots regularly or enjoys competing in tournaments, or just sighting in your firearm for a hunt, join us in celebrating the month by visiting a local shooting range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBetter yet, take a friend along to enjoy the pastime with you.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The shooting sports can provide a lifetime of enjoyment with family and friends. It\u2019s a safe, fun activity enjoyed annually by more than 63 million Americans, according to the latest data (2022)\u00a0 compiled by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nssf.org\/\"><strong>NSSF<\/strong><\/a>. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/shooting-sports\/ben-avery-shooting-facility\/?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=govdelivery\">Ben Avery Shooting Facility<\/a> (BASF), one of the nation\u2019s largest publicly operated shooting facilities, drew more than 200,000 recreational shooters in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Below are BASF\u2019s hours of operation for rifle and pistol ranges, archery ranges, and Clay Target Center.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Monday: CLOSED<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Tuesday: 7 a.m.-3 p.m.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Wednesday: 7 a.m.-3 p.m.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Thursday: 7 a.m.-7 p.m.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Friday: 7 a.m.-7 p.m.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Saturday: 7 a.m.-7 p.m.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sunday: 7 a.m.-5 p.m.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Customers can reserve shooting times on weekend days at <a href=\"https:\/\/bookben.azgfd.com\/\"><strong>https:\/\/bookben.azgfd.com\/<\/strong><\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are nine other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/shooting-sports\/where-to-shoot\/\"><strong>shooting facilities<\/strong><\/a> located throughout the state, owned by the Arizona Game and Fish Commission. There also are dozens of independently owned and operated ranges, which can be found at <a href=\"http:\/\/wheretoshoot.org\/index2.cfm\"><strong>http:\/\/wheretoshoot.org\/index2.cfm<\/strong><\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a reminder, this is a good time for dove hunters to grab their shotguns and head to the Clay Target Center in preparation for the upcoming season, which opens Sept. 1. AZGFD also encourages hunters to purchase their Arizona hunting license and migratory bird stamp online at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/hunting\/hunt-draw-and-licenses\/\"><strong>https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/hunting\/hunt-draw-and-licenses\/<\/strong><\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are 10 shooting facilities in Arizona that are owned by the Game and Fish Commission. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":9031,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[88,92],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basf-all","category-main-site"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>August is National Shooting Sports Month - Arizona Game &amp; Fish Department<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/2025\/08\/01\/august-is-national-shooting-sports-month-3\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"August is National Shooting Sports Month - Arizona Game &amp; Fish Department\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There are 10 shooting facilities in Arizona that are owned by the Game and Fish Commission.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/2025\/08\/01\/august-is-national-shooting-sports-month-3\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arizona Game &amp; Fish Department\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-01T20:34:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-01T20:56:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/azgfd-portal-wordpress-pantheon.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/16134832\/BASF-main-shooter_360.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"dhajek\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"dhajek\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/2025\/08\/01\/august-is-national-shooting-sports-month-3\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/2025\/08\/01\/august-is-national-shooting-sports-month-3\/\",\"name\":\"August is National Shooting Sports Month - Arizona Game &amp; Fish Department\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/2025\/08\/01\/august-is-national-shooting-sports-month-3\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/2025\/08\/01\/august-is-national-shooting-sports-month-3\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/azgfd-portal-wordpress-pantheon.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/16134832\/BASF-main-shooter_360.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-01T20:34:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-01T20:56:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f0ee2263622aa1bde9df0392443881e2\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/2025\/08\/01\/august-is-national-shooting-sports-month-3\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/2025\/08\/01\/august-is-national-shooting-sports-month-3\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/2025\/08\/01\/august-is-national-shooting-sports-month-3\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/azgfd-portal-wordpress-pantheon.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/16134832\/BASF-main-shooter_360.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/azgfd-portal-wordpress-pantheon.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/16134832\/BASF-main-shooter_360.jpg\",\"width\":360,\"height\":360},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/2025\/08\/01\/august-is-national-shooting-sports-month-3\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"August is National Shooting Sports Month\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/\",\"name\":\"Arizona Game &amp; Fish Department\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f0ee2263622aa1bde9df0392443881e2\",\"name\":\"dhajek\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6e5a0f9f8f66221ea261f799a9d5fc7ddb3de337aa5c08d3a9287e5f9d303b76?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6e5a0f9f8f66221ea261f799a9d5fc7ddb3de337aa5c08d3a9287e5f9d303b76?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"dhajek\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/author\/dhajek\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"August is National Shooting Sports Month - Arizona Game &amp; Fish Department","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/2025\/08\/01\/august-is-national-shooting-sports-month-3\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"August is National Shooting Sports Month - Arizona Game &amp; Fish Department","og_description":"There are 10 shooting facilities in Arizona that are owned by the Game and Fish Commission.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/2025\/08\/01\/august-is-national-shooting-sports-month-3\/","og_site_name":"Arizona Game &amp; Fish Department","article_published_time":"2025-08-01T20:34:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-08-01T20:56:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":360,"height":360,"url":"https:\/\/azgfd-portal-wordpress-pantheon.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/16134832\/BASF-main-shooter_360.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"dhajek","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"dhajek","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/2025\/08\/01\/august-is-national-shooting-sports-month-3\/","url":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/2025\/08\/01\/august-is-national-shooting-sports-month-3\/","name":"August is National Shooting Sports Month - Arizona Game &amp; Fish Department","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/2025\/08\/01\/august-is-national-shooting-sports-month-3\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/2025\/08\/01\/august-is-national-shooting-sports-month-3\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/azgfd-portal-wordpress-pantheon.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/16134832\/BASF-main-shooter_360.jpg","datePublished":"2025-08-01T20:34:51+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-01T20:56:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f0ee2263622aa1bde9df0392443881e2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/2025\/08\/01\/august-is-national-shooting-sports-month-3\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/2025\/08\/01\/august-is-national-shooting-sports-month-3\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/2025\/08\/01\/august-is-national-shooting-sports-month-3\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/azgfd-portal-wordpress-pantheon.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/16134832\/BASF-main-shooter_360.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/azgfd-portal-wordpress-pantheon.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/16134832\/BASF-main-shooter_360.jpg","width":360,"height":360},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/2025\/08\/01\/august-is-national-shooting-sports-month-3\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"August is National Shooting Sports Month"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/","name":"Arizona Game &amp; Fish Department","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f0ee2263622aa1bde9df0392443881e2","name":"dhajek","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6e5a0f9f8f66221ea261f799a9d5fc7ddb3de337aa5c08d3a9287e5f9d303b76?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6e5a0f9f8f66221ea261f799a9d5fc7ddb3de337aa5c08d3a9287e5f9d303b76?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"dhajek"},"url":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/author\/dhajek\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20250"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20252,"href":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20250\/revisions\/20252"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azgfd.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}